What's the difference between active and dull?

Active


Definition:

  • (a.) Having the power or quality of acting; causing change; communicating action or motion; acting; -- opposed to passive, that receives; as, certain active principles; the powers of the mind.
  • (a.) Quick in physical movement; of an agile and vigorous body; nimble; as, an active child or animal.
  • (a.) In action; actually proceeding; working; in force; -- opposed to quiescent, dormant, or extinct; as, active laws; active hostilities; an active volcano.
  • (a.) Given to action; constantly engaged in action; energetic; diligent; busy; -- opposed to dull, sluggish, indolent, or inert; as, an active man of business; active mind; active zeal.
  • (a.) Requiring or implying action or exertion; -- opposed to sedentary or to tranquil; as, active employment or service; active scenes.
  • (a.) Given to action rather than contemplation; practical; operative; -- opposed to speculative or theoretical; as, an active rather than a speculative statesman.
  • (a.) Brisk; lively; as, an active demand for corn.
  • (a.) Implying or producing rapid action; as, an active disease; an active remedy.
  • (a.) Applied to a form of the verb; -- opposed to passive. See Active voice, under Voice.
  • (a.) Applied to verbs which assert that the subject acts upon or affects something else; transitive.
  • (a.) Applied to all verbs that express action as distinct from mere existence or state.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Tryptic digestion of the membranes caused complete disappearance of the binding activity, but heat-treatment for 5 min at 70 degrees C caused only 40% loss of activity.
  • (2) A study revealed that the percentage of active sperm in semen 30 seconds after ejaculation was 10.3% when a nonoxynol 9 latex condom was used as opposed to 55.9% in a nonspermicidal condom.
  • (3) The most actively proliferating region of the excurrent duct system is zone 3 of the epididymis, whereas the least active region is the ductuli efferentes.
  • (4) Spectral analysis of spontaneous heart rate fluctuations, a powerful noninvasive tool for quantifying autonomic nervous system activity, was assessed in Xenopus Laevis, intact or spinalized, at different temperatures and by use of pharmacological tools.
  • (5) Activity of Na,K-ATPase activity was measured as a functional marker for synaptosomal membranes.
  • (6) The antiarrhythmic activity similar to that of quinidine (with ca.
  • (7) The microsomal preparations from untreated Syrian golden hamster livers exhibited higher activities of N-demethylation towards the macrolide antibiotics, erythromycin and troleandomycin, than those from untreated and phenobarbital-treated rats.
  • (8) Patient plasma samples demonstrated evidence of marked complement activation, with 3-fold elevations of C3a desArg concentrations by the 8th day of therapy.
  • (9) After stimulation with lipopolysaccharide and calcium ionophore A23187, culture supernatants of clones c18A and c29A showed cytotoxic activity against human melanoma A375 Met-Mix and other cell lines which were resistant to the tumor necrosis factor, lymphotoxin and interleukin 1.
  • (10) Phospholipid methylation in human EGMs is distinctly different from that in rat EGMs (Hirata and Axelrod 1980) in that the human activity is not Mg++-dependent, and apparent methyltransferase I activity is located in the external membrane surface.
  • (11) Increased plasmin activity was associated with advancing stage of lactation and older cows after appropriate adjustments were made for the effects of milk yield and SCC.
  • (12) Arachidic acid was without effect, while linoleic acid and linolenic acid were (on a concentration basis) at least 5-times less active than arachidonic acid.
  • (13) Following in vitro C activation in NHS by delta IgG, the 40 KD C4d component increased markedly.
  • (14) One hour after direct mechanical cardiomassage (DMCM) a moderately pronounced edema of the intercellular spaces in the basal compartment of the seminiferous epithelium, normal content of lactate and succinate dehydrogenases, and a certain decrease in the activity of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenases and NAD- and NADP-diaphorases were noted.
  • (15) We conclude that first-transit and blood-pool techniques are equally accurate methods for determining EF when the time-activity method of analysis is employed.
  • (16) This difference was not due to ATPase activity in the assay.
  • (17) In the surface epithelial cells, the basolateral cell surface showed moderate enzymatic activity.
  • (18) Both the vitellogenesis and the GtH cell activity are restored in the fish exposed to short photoperiod if it is followed by a long photoperiod.
  • (19) It was shown in experiments on four dogs by the conditioned method that the period of recovery of conditioned activity after one hour ether anaesthesia tested 7 to 7.5 days.
  • (20) Together these results suggest that IVC may operate as a selective activator of calpain both in the cytosol and at the membrane level; in the latter case in synergism with the activation induced by association of the proteinase to the cell membrane.

Dull


Definition:

  • (superl.) Slow of understanding; wanting readiness of apprehension; stupid; doltish; blockish.
  • (superl.) Slow in action; sluggish; unready; awkward.
  • (superl.) Insensible; unfeeling.
  • (superl.) Not keen in edge or point; lacking sharpness; blunt.
  • (superl.) Not bright or clear to the eye; wanting in liveliness of color or luster; not vivid; obscure; dim; as, a dull fire or lamp; a dull red or yellow; a dull mirror.
  • (superl.) Heavy; gross; cloggy; insensible; spiritless; lifeless; inert.
  • (superl.) Furnishing little delight, spirit, or variety; uninteresting; tedious; cheerless; gloomy; melancholy; depressing; as, a dull story or sermon; a dull occupation or period; hence, cloudy; overcast; as, a dull day.
  • (v. t.) To deprive of sharpness of edge or point.
  • (v. t.) To make dull, stupid, or sluggish; to stupefy, as the senses, the feelings, the perceptions, and the like.
  • (v. t.) To render dim or obscure; to sully; to tarnish.
  • (v. t.) To deprive of liveliness or activity; to render heavy; to make inert; to depress; to weary; to sadden.
  • (v. i.) To become dull or stupid.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) "Maybe dullness is associated with psychic pain," Wallace wrote at one point, "because something that's dull or opaque fails to provide enough stimulation to distract people from some other, deeper type of pain that is always there, if only in an ambient low-level way, and which most of us spend nearly all our time and energy trying to distract ourselves from."
  • (2) Similar systems were put in place at Dulles outside Washington DC, Newark and Chicago airports on Thursday.
  • (3) The soft, dull, malacic appearance of the center results from lack of a true surface layer of tangential collagen fibers.
  • (4) Here I am in Los Angeles being paid $30,000 to do next to nothing and still I'm finding life rather dull.
  • (5) A significant proportion of splenic B cells reacted with these mAb, although lower number (one-log less) than peritoneal B cells and a small proportion of H7dull+ splenic B cells seems to be Ly-1(CD5)dull+, 1 of 200 splenic B cells responded to IL-5 for IgM production.
  • (6) A 58-year-old man complained of dull left lower quadrant pain and constipation.
  • (7) They will begin next week at Liberty airport in Newark, New Jersey; Dulles, outside Washington DC; Chicago O’Hare, and Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta.
  • (8) At both observations, crowns were rated on 5-point Likert scales for outline form, porosity, smoothness, reflectance, texture, dullness, defects, and general esthetic appearances.
  • (9) On the other hand AMH2 showed the dull-positive reaction with some monocytes and pleural exudate cells among above-mentioned cells.
  • (10) Britain’s Got Talent review – Simon Cowell is looking like Caligula after a dull day at the Coliseum Read more The show, won last year by boy band Collabro, began eight years ago with 4.9 million viewers, rising to 8.8 million for its second series launch before hitting the 10 million mark for the first time in 2009 with 10.3 million.
  • (11) Disseminated annular psoriasiform lesions developed over a period of 2 months in a 48-year-old man with no preceding psoriatic history of drug intake, being accompanied by general dullness and arthralgia.
  • (12) 3) At the severe stage, pain and dullness at the back, numbness at arms and hands, hand coldness, sleep disturbance etc.
  • (13) One month after surgery, she complained of swelling and a dull pain in the right leg without cardiorespiratory symptoms.
  • (14) Black-hair follicular dysplasia in dogs of mixed breeding was delineated by hypotrichosis and dullness of most black regions of the coat.
  • (15) Endoscopic examination disclosed an almost roundish, smooth-surfaced, flat and dull red area corresponding to IIc (slightly depressed type).
  • (16) Their surface phenotype was Thy-1+(dull), Ly-1.2+(dull), Lyt-2-, L3T4-, 9F3+, and 3A1+, which is consistent with that found in intact lpr mice.
  • (17) The engines, gearboxes and even the doors now have a complexity that sees them constructed elsewhere, but the transformation on this line of the dull sheen of aluminium parts into a moving vehicle at the other end is still something to behold.
  • (18) Flow cytometry showed three types of trophozoite staining by mAb: (i) bright staining of greater than 90% of trophozoites, with aggregation of the organisms; (ii) bright staining of approximately 90% of trophozoites, with little or no aggregation; (iii) dull staining of approximately 20% of trophozoites, without aggregation.
  • (19) The percentage of dull CD8+CD11b+ cells (natural killer cells) among TG-2 cells was lower than that in peripheral blood, but there was no significant difference in bright CD8+CD11b+ cells (suppressor-effector T cells) between thyroid glands and peripheral blood.
  • (20) It was filed in my mind as a pretty but dull destination, full of pensioners on package deals and cruises.